Let's repot the flower show

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It's that time of year when the people who provide the grunt
work on television shows such as Backyard Blitz bring
every tawdry idea they ever had and dump them in Melbourne's
historic Carlton Gardens, next to the Royal Exhibition
Building.

Otherwise known as the Melbourne International Flower and Garden
Show, this decade-long cash-grab turns our unique gardens into a
building site for two weeks, a pay-as-you-go area for five days, a
wreckers' yard for the week after the event, before finally
consigning parts of the gardens to a muddy heap for most of the
winter months.

Not content with depriving inner-city residents and the general
public of the use of the gardens for this period, the merchants
featured at this extravaganza find new ways every year to put
stress on an asset that has taken more than 125 years to
nurture.

The ever-more elaborate displays take construction vehicles,
tradesmen, forklifts and trucks two weeks to prepare. Over the past
10 years, I've seen granite slabs delivered and dumped, sheds
constructed, concrete poured and ponds dug.

Flowers we like - paving stones, concrete water features and
full outdoor decks only add to the strain on the gardens.

In recent years, it has taken months for the ground to recover
from the thousands of horticulturally minded pensioners who tramp
through the garish marquees full of bark chips, bulbs and
banksia.

In the recent February storms, more than one huge tree came
tumbling down. Perhaps it was just old, but some park watchers
suggest that compacted soil and stress on tree roots could
ultimately destroy the very thing the flower lovers come to
see.

Premier Steve Bracks, in an event program distributed in The
Age on Tuesday, said: "It's hard to imagine a better place for
a great garden show . . ."

There is, you know - it's called the Showgrounds. Build and
construct all the temples to gardening you like out there, and
charge admission while you're at it.

The residents of Melbourne, Carlton and Fitzroy need their
backyard back.